The Nantucket Gull Show.

 

Nantucket Gull Show, A brief chronicle of our observations, January 3, 2010.

Our adopted hosts strongly advised us not to miss “the gull show”, which is seen regularly but not predictably at Low Beach in the SE portion of Nantucket. I had actually witnessed this event many years earlier. I remembered being impressed by the number of gulls from the fleeting glimpse back then, but I thought it was probably some man-made event that brought the gulls together and never gave it another thought. The recommendation was now a day old, and we were just driving around birding and taking in the glorious winter sights. Gull viewing was not high on my list of things to do this trip.

At some point in our travels we lurched back into Iphone range in the mid afternoon. We found a short message from Edie Ray that said the show was on, get down to Low Beach now. Those few words got the adrenalin flowing. We knew only vaguely where Low Beach was, so we dug out a map, and found a road near Low Beach. Hoping we were in the right area, we followed a sand track into tundra like area that was probably the Low Beach parking area. It was cold, snowing and the wind was blowing relentlessly out of the NW. Suitably geared up we marched out over the dunes with bins, scope and a camera with a long zoom lens into the sting of driven snow, salt spray and sand on our faces. The following is a chronicle of our observations.

A pleasant diversion along the way to The Gull Show.

When we reached the sand beach we could see the seas churning away and occasionally distant Scoters and Long-tailed ducks flying back and forth, but there was no sign of The Gull Show. We walked along the sand beach, west towards Tom Nevers Beach and soon flushed two pale sparrows. We had found the CBC reported Ipswich race of the Savannah Sparrows and spent a few minutes watching them deal with wind and cold. Nothing seemed to faze them; they hunkered down in the lee of beach debris, sand banks and snowdrifts and they even managed to forage among exposed dune grasses for seeds. Their breeding grounds on Cape Sable Island and their pale coloration made them seem ideally suited for winter on a windswept Nantucket beach.

Close up of Two Ipswich Sparrows seeking refuge from wind and snow in the lee of beach debris on Low Beach.

Two Ipswich Sparrows foraging for grass seeds in Low Beach dunes. One snacks on a dune grass seed head while the storm rages.

We find the Gull Show, but it’s not just gulls.

We continued walking down the beach and soon noticed gulls wheeling above the breaking surf. The wind blowing from the NW was ripping the tops off of the storm driven waves that were coming in from the SE. It was remarkable to be a close up witness to this caldron of swirling salt sea.

We soon find some Bonaparte and Herring Gulls wheeling over the storm tossed and breaking surf. There are also distant flocks or Long Tailed Ducks and Scoter, while Goldeneyes lurk in the surf zone.

 

Further down the beach, we saw Gulls and Sanderling on the beach and further out we could see rafts of gulls and ducks foraging in the surf line.

We found The Gull Show. Here are more photos show the business of the winter surf guild at Low Beach, Nantucket, which I call the The Dance of the Winter Surf Feeding Guild:

A big wave rolled in, tops ripped by strong winds sending a fluid roller coaster of hundreds of gulls launched from the sea to wheel over the crashing waves into the wind.

We were now seeing dozens of Lesser Black Back Gulls; they out-numbered the Greater Black Backs in the surf zone. Iceland Gulls were plentiful too. Later reviewing hundreds of photos, I rarely found a group photo that did not contain either Iceland and/or Lesser Black Backs. At this point we began to try to make sense of what we were seeing. It was clear that this was not just a gull show. Over the course of the next three quarters of an hour we observed the following species lumped broadly into two groups, the winter surf guild and all others.

Group one, birds seen from the beach, but not regularly feeding in the surf. Great Black Gull, Long-tailed Duck, Surf Scoters, Black Scoters, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, Sanderling, Black-bellied Plover, Ipswich Sparrow.

Group two, the winter surf-feeding guild, these birds were seen regularly foraging in the breaking surf: Herring Gulls, Bonaparte Gulls. Lesser-black Backed Gulls, Iceland Gulls, Common Eider, Common Golden-eyes, Barrow Golden-eyes, Buffleheads, and Black Duck.

It was a simply mesmerizing spectacle, the powerful breaking, wind blown, waves, and the seemingly choreographed movements of foraging gulls and ducks among the raging surf. In the calm periods between crashing surf, just off the beach, various members of the surf-feeding guild would energetically forage for items near the surface of the churning water. As the waves crashed in, the gulls would take flight, and ducks would either swim over or dive under the breaking waves. Once the wave passed, the guild members would resume their feeding strategies as if nothing had happened. The cycle of calm feeding, breaking wave escape, and the return to resting, or foraging, played over and over again in a constantly changing spectacle. For hundreds of yards in either direction we could see various portions of this tableau, in it the drama would change subtly and the players would rearrange themselves as if moving to tunes that we could not hear.

Closer view of surf feeding guild with a breaking wave.

Between the waves, members of the surf guild often were observed densely packed together in prime foraging areas, gleaning food from the seafood soup.

Members of the surf-feeding guild take an occasional rest from the intense foraging conditions in the surf and they haul out on the sand, get their needed rest and eventually head back into the waves for more foraging.

Seafood Soup.

What was the draw that brought these different birds together such concentration here in the surf at Low Beach? It appeared to us that it must be the food, as the birds were clearly eating something they found in the surf. Some combination of tides, currents, and wind brings to this surf zone a predictable, repeating, floating buffet or seafood soup. We have more questions about the make up of the soup than answers. We could clearly see however that the water in the surf zone contained a massive amount of colorful floating bits that looked like seaweed or algae. Was there also an invertebrate component of this soup, we could not say? But what was certain is that this soup brought at least four species of gulls and five species of ducks here to forage side by side in the surf zone moveable feast.

Seafood soup. We also observed that the water in the surf zone appeared to contain a dense load of floating bits of this seaweed and the breaking waves would toss some bits into the air.

More seafood soup. Sometimes, backlighting would offer a glimpse of the seafood soup in a breaking wave. Here is a flock of Bonaparte Gulls in flight over breaking waves dense with suspended bits of seaweed.

The Dance of the Winter Surf Guild goes on.

Gulls take flight over breaking surf.

Winter Surf Guild and breaking wave.

Winter Surf Guild foraging flock forages on the surface in the surf zone during the calm between breaking waves.

The storm is winding down and the sun wants to come out, but it’s cold and daylight is fading. We take one last look at The Gull Show and watch wind swept streamers of breaking surf frame another movement in the dance of the Winter Surf Feeding Guild at Low Beach.

Thanks for joining us. The Nantucket Gull Show has to rank up there among the most awesome winter wildlife spectacles in the Western Atlantic. Nantucket also offers the opportunity to see two more great winter spectacles. The amazing dawn and dusk flights of thousands of Long-tailed Ducks is one. Another is a chance to view wheeling flocks of hundreds of feeding Northern Gannets approaching like a rolling snow storm as the leading flank plunge dives and the rear echelon leaves the water to join the flock for another dive. I’ve seen them both in Winter on Nantucket and without doubt “The Gull Show” ranks right up there.  Thanks again to Edie Ray for alerting us to the spectacle, and for helping to bring the excitement back to gulls.

Townsend P. Dickinson
Author & Photographer

P.S. Quiz question for you. How many different species of Gulls and Ducks can you find in these images.  Send us your totals and names of each species and see who can get the most species.

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